More glimpses of unfamiliar Japan

This is the draincover for Miyoshi, a town in the mountains of Hiroshima, and upstream from us on the Gonokawa river. It depicts cormorants ...

The earliest form of Tengu in Japan was a half-bird half-man creature, the Karasu (crow) Tengu, but the commonest form is the red faced, lon...

Like so many shrines and temples, Otosho shrine in Miyoshi is at the top of a flight of steps. Otoshi, one of Susano's many sons, is a t...

Inari shrines are immediately recognizable by their "tunnels" of vermillion Torii. Inari is primarily the kami of rice harvest, bu...

In contemporary Japan there is a hard distinction between shrines and temples. Shrines are shinto, and temples are buddhist. This distinctio...

When I go walking and exploring I usually follow a route that takes me from shrine to shrine. Sometimes, in remote areas, the maps are outda...

Miyoshi is a large town in the mountains of northern Hiroshima that lies upstream of my village in Shimane on the Gonokawa River . Three ru...